tressa is a good cook. she gave me two good reasons to learn how.

1. her meals tasted much better than mine - so I thought "I should cook too, then meals would always be good"
2. it is somewhat embarrassing to not be able to cook (and now I feel better since I can cook half a dozen good meals)

here is a sample meal by tressa - beef kebobs with a baked potato and caesar salad. yummy!

there are additional benefits - financial, convenience (leftovers), health

I made a herbed chicken parmesan with orzo pasta and baked broccoli, all from scratch. it was delicious!

I am getting all my recipes from a cookbook i bought called "cooking light: the essential dinner tonight cookbook". I recommend the entire Cooking Light family.

Yesterday I cooked shrimp pad thai from scratch for Tressa. And it actually turned out quite well! This was encouraging for very future attempts. It was spicy to me (but tolerable) and a good spice level for Tressa (who has a higher tolerance).

I am not a good cook. Actually, that is an unfair statement. I might be, I just haven't ever done it. Never felt the ambition to. Recently however, I have bought two cookbooks. I am trying to eat healthier, more from scratch, learn a new skill.

My friend Jon does cook a lot. He says he enjoys it, finds it calming. I can sorta buy that - as long as it is small scale - personal, friends, family - and not a restaurant for example.

Personally I like the measuring of ingredients and looking at wikipedia for culinary terms between steps. I am hoping I stick with this new hobby.

Update - 2012 I did stick with it and while I am not a superb chef, I am good, my timing has improved drastically and I can cook many dishes now : )